Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Precursor: Precursor Basin

It didn't take the trio long to reach the entrance of the Precursor Basin, considering it was a five second walk from the center of the village, though once they reached their destination they discovered that the zoomer was waiting for them. As they approached the vehicle they discovered that the heat shield had either been deactivated or turned off, no doubt so Keira could work on it while they were busy gathering more Power Cells. Despite the fact that they knew that Jak was the more experienced driver of the two of them, and knew the controls a lot better, Pinkie insisted on at least trying out the vehicle.

"Why do you care about using the zoomer so much?" Daxter asked, staring at Pinkie as he rode on Jak's shoulder, who happened to be standing beside the zoomer, "We're on the clock with changing me back to my previous form... and you want to try out the zoomer?!"

"Besides giving Keira a second opinion on what needs to be fixed?" Pinkie replied, shrugging as she looked at the controls, which were rather straightforward once Jak explained how to accelerate and do a few of the other movements that he had done in the Fire Canyon, "Look, if I find anything that's beyond my skill we'll return here and I'll switch with Jak."

"Whatever." Daxter stated, just as Jak climbed into the sidecar, where he slipped into the sitting position he had used when Pinkie had been sitting in the sidecar earlier.

Pinkie smiled as she climbed onto the main body of the zoomer and slipped her feet into the shoes at the end of the vehicle, though before she did anything she made sure that she knew how to move before shooting forward and going up the hill that was in front of them. The moment they came over the top of the hill Pinkie spotted a red rodent creature that was walking around and bumping into everything, which meant that it had to be one of the Lightning Moles that the geologist wanted them to save. As she maneuvered them into the first area of the Basin she also discovered that there were a fair amount of metallic boxes scattered everywhere, including boxes filled with Dark Eco, as well as Precursor Orbs and Scout Flies laying around.

They also found a sleeping creature, that happened to have purple skin, while also possessing a pair of wings, to which Daxter indicated that it was one of the Flying Lurkers and that, if they ran it down, they might find a Power Cell for their efforts.

Pinkie grinned as she followed the first Lightning Mole around the area for a couple of seconds, where she spotted the hole that the location she needed to herd them back into, before directing the poor creature back into its home. With the first mole taken care of Pinkie maneuvered around the Precursor structures that were scattered around everywhere and spotted three more Lightning Moles laying out in the sun. Instead of heading towards the sleeping Lurker she targeted the other mole that was hanging near the entrance and made sure that it was back inside its home before moving on. With half of the moles taken care of she turned the zoomer on the Lurker and followed it, carefully learning its pattern and its movements before catching up to it, where she slammed into it and ran it down.

When no Power Cell appeared from where the Lurker fell Pinkie wondered if Daxter was pulling her leg, but then decided to withhold her comments until she explored the rest of the area, in the off chance that there were more Lurkers waiting for them.

Pinkie maneuvered the zoomer into position and herded the remaining two Lightning Moles into their hole, to which Daxter commented that they could now retrieve the Power Cell the geologist had offered them. As Pinkie explored the area they were in she spotted another sleeping Lurker, to which she implemented the plan that had allowed her to take out the first Flying Lurker, eventually ending with her slamming into it and taking it down as well.

"Hey Pinkie," Jak said, while at the same time Pinkie ran into some of the metallic boxes and collected the orbs that had been trapped within them, "Do you see that glowing purple ring?"

"Yeah, I see it," Pinkie replied, carefully maneuvering up to where the ring was, and found another Scout Fly to rescue, "Should we do this now or should we come back after we finish scouting the rest of the area?"

"Its up to you," Jak stated, reminding his sister that she currently had control of the zoomer at the moment, "but if you want my advice I would search the rest of the Basin first, then come back once we've done almost everything else."

Pinkie stared at the purple ring for a few seconds, wondering if she should take her brother's advice or not, but then turned the zoomer just a little bit and headed back into the lower part of the area they were in, to which she maneuvered them towards an opening that took them towards the other part of the Precursor Basin. She found a lot more of the Precursor structures scattered around the second half of the Basin, which wasn't surprising, though after some searching she discovered two more Flying Lurkers, who were sleeping when they neared them, but decided to ignore them for the moment. Jak pointed out that there was a Power Cell floating in the air above the small body of water that they had found, as well as a Green Eco vent that happened to be sitting near a large cluster of Dark Eco plants.

Pinkie spent some time following after the Flying Lurkers, once again learning their patterns before she slammed into the two of them at the end of their tracks, though when she took out the fourth one she was rewarded with the Power Cell had pointed out.

"See!" Daxter exclaimed, pointing at the Power Cell that Jak was holding, as he had grabbed it while Pinkie was steering the zoomer, "I told you that the Flying Lurkers had a Power Cell on them."

"You were right," Pinkie admitted, silently glad that she hadn't said anything sooner, though once the Lurkers had been taken care of she moved into the Green Eco vent and surrounded the zoomer in the flowing life energy.

Pinkie moved around the Dark Eco plants and watched as the Green Eco tore the plants to pieces, but only in a straight path that mimicked the way she was moving the zoomer. It took her five passes with the zoomer, and having to restock her eco at the vent, but eventually she managed to cut down the last of the Dark Eco plants and clear the area of them. Once the last plant was taken care of a large flower of sorts erupted from the ground and opened up, to which it released a Power Cell that it had been holding, allowing Jak to pick it up as Pinkie moved the zoomer near it.

"You keep on impressing me," Samos said over the communicator, causing the trio to look at the contraption for a moment, feeling good about what Pinkie had just done, "but maybe its because I have low expectations. Okay, your moment of gloating is over... get on with it."

Pinkie and Jak shared a look with each other, as they knew that only Daxter would be the one to gloat over impressing Samos, but before their friend could do so Jak smacked him in the back of the head as Pinkie continued to scout the area. She carefully maneuvered around the area and jumped the zoomer across some of the ramp like areas, eventually allowing her to jump them across the higher platforms until she was aligned with the Power Cell that was hanging in the middle of the air.

"Hey Jak," Pinkie said, staring at the floating Power Cell for a moment, "I'm going to go as fast as I can and try and get us near that Power Cell, but it will be up to you or Daxter to grab it before we land... or we'll be doing it until we get it."

"Just get us close and we'll see what we can do," Jak replied, though at the same time he and Daxter prepared themselves for the jump that Pinkie was about to attempt.

Pinkie let out a sigh as she pushed the zoomer to its maximum speed and jumped into the air, sending them sailing towards the Power Cell, though after a few seconds they landed on the top of the water without any injuries to them or the zoomer. Pinkie looked at Jak and Daxter, to which they held up the Power Cell with a smile on both of their faces, to which she grinned as she took them back towards the purple ring they had noticed earlier. She flew them through the ring and noticed that another one appeared not too far away from where they were, to which she followed the series of rings around the entire Basin, making sure to hit each and every one of them until she reached the very end of the course... where she earned another Power Cell.

Seeing how they were currently missing one Scout Fly, and the Power Cell associated with it, Pinkie moved about the entire Basin once more, seeing if she had missed anything, before Jak pointed out a blue ring near the area that she had used to get them close to floating Power Cell. As she moved them near the second ring she noticed the last Scout Fly, to which they earned the Power Cell it was holding, before she activated the blue rings and followed them throughout the Basin once more, though this time it was on a completely different course than the original one.

It took Pinkie some time to maneuver them around the second ring challenge, along with having to restart it after messing up the first time, but eventually she managed to reach the end of it and claim the Power Cell that it had been keeping from them. With that done Pinkie took them back towards the entrance, though instead of heading into the racing section of the Basin she returned to the platform they had found the zoomer on and parked it there for a moment.

"Why did we stop?" Daxter asked, glaring at Pinkie as she pulled herself off the zoomer and stretched her body, "We have one more task to complete in the Basin before we can leave!"

"Look, my body hurts from maintaining that position for so long," Pinkie replied, allowing Jak to climb out of the sidecar and take her place on the main part of the zoomer, "besides, its only fair that Jak gets a turn on the zoomer... especially since he'll likely be using it more than me in the future."

Daxter looked like he was about to rage at the fact that they were wasting time or something like that, but he decided to say nothing as he climbed into Pinkie's lap when she took a seat in the sidecar. Jak then moved them back into the Basin and approached the area that was the racing area, to which he started the course the moment he touched the starting line. He maneuvered them around the race track and got used to what was hanging in front of them, before eventually reaching the end of the track and, somehow, besting the score on his first try. He felt like there should have been a practice lap before the actual race, but decided to say nothing as he returned them to the zoomer platform and park it for real this time.

With the Precursor Basin done, and the only Power Cells left were associated with the geologist and the gambler, the trio returned to the center of the village and moved to the side area that would take them to the sunken city. Their plan of attack was to go into the city once Pinkie had recovered from overusing the zoomer, where they would search for some more Power Cells and Orbs before they traded some orbs to the warrior so they could access the swamp. Once they got back from the swamp they planned on trading their orbs to the various people in the village, and collecting the ones that the geologist and gambler had, before talking with Keira about the machine.

Pinkie let out a sigh as she, Jak, and Daxter relaxed for some time, knowing that there wouldn't be a chance to relax once they started moving again... and likely wouldn't stop again until they reached the end of their quest.

Comments

[Sonata Blaze]

So Pinkie is actually a decent zoomer rider... interesting.

[Adagio Shimmer]

Of course Daxter is impatient to get to the end of the quest, but at least he's willing to listen to reason... sometimes it seems.

[Eye of Knowledge]

I did not see that coming... Pinkie riding the zoomer I mean.

[The A I]

... *claps* good chapter!

[Pinkie Glimmer]

Oh, do I see a potential racer in Pinkie's future?

[Lord Frieza]

I am surprised that she is such a skilled racer... maybe she'll do better in the future.

[SvenFoxx]

Daxter seems to have more anger issues than in canon. He was the one that didn't really want to do anything before the second game kicked him in the tail. Now he's raring to get this done and over with.

It also seems to be oddly focused on Pinkie Pie.

Theory: Daxter has never really accepted Pinkie Pie and her unique brand of strange. I imagine that, if true, this will be addressed during the Daxter game, the one where he's searching for Jak and a way to rescue him.

Let's find out!